Mobile Payment Technology [Trend To Watch]

A report published by Ipsos MORI, a market research company, and VocaLink, a global payments partner to financial institutions and governments, indicates that European millennials are struggling to adopt mobile payment technology.

While more than half of the approximately 4,000 millennials from Germany, Italy, the U.K., and the Netherlands who took part in the study exhibit deep interest and a strong desire to use mobile devices for making payments, the lack of features and benefits that today’s technology offers is preventing them from changing their habits. In addition, poor awareness and understanding of the technology currently available contributes to the slow adoption.

Particularly interesting is the fact that the study found that millennials in the U.K. and the Netherlands would be more inclined to use new mobile payment services if such services were offered by their banks, followed by PayPal. In Germany and Italy, more people, by a small margin, would prefer to use PayPal, as opposed to their banks, for mobile payments.

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The mobile payments picture in the U.S. isn’t much different. While more and more Americans are using their mobile wallets and brand-specific apps to transact, we’re far from mass adoption. Security, a shortage of stores that accept mobile payments, and a perceived lack of value are all reasons why consumers aren’t flocking to pay or send money with their phones.

While research confirms that there’s a long road ahead for mobile payment technology, data suggests that there is, in fact, an appetite for more innovative mobile services and that financial services companies should continue investing in the development of mobile payment solutions in order to meet customer expectations.

To that end, in 2017 we will see much better mobile payment technology (e.g., Zelle) that gets the attention of a wide swath of the population.

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